


The Runt

by lmontyy



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Canon Lesbian Relationship, Ellie - Freeform, F/F, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Joel - Freeform, Lesbian Character, Romantic Fluff, TLOU, The Last of Us - Freeform, but it ends up being cute anyway, dina - Freeform, dina and joel being the best duo for 3000 words straight, dina and joel dont get down with ellies funky idea until the end, dina x ellie, ellie finds a runt wolf and thinks its a bright idea to keep it, ellie x dina, joel liking dina more than ellie, the last of us part 2 - Freeform, the last of us part ii, tlou 2, tlou part 2, wolf - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23614816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmontyy/pseuds/lmontyy
Summary: On a hunting patrol, Ellie finds a creature in need of help and has the impulsive idea of bringing it home to take care of it. Dina and Joel can't figure out what on Earth she was thinking, but go along for the ride anyway.
Relationships: Dina & Ellie (The Last of Us), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 178





	The Runt

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired by "Sunday Best" by Surfaces. I listened to it all throughout writing ^^
> 
> This was a more humorous and fluffy piece requested by the anon in my inbox. It isn't as serious as all my other ones, but it was very cute to write :)

Solo hunting trips were always something that Ellie looked forward to. Regardless of the time or the season, Ellie loved to hunt. Being alone in the peaceful atmosphere of the Jackson wilderness, away from everyone human and surrounded by the tranquility and balance of nature was among one of Ellie’s favorite ways to spend her time.

It was a clear winter day that day that she found him. A chilly breeze blew over the Jackson woods, biting at her cheeks and the tip of her nose. It was times like those that she realized just how beautiful the world around her was, despite all of the havoc that had been wreaked on the world. And it was time like those that she realized the balance of nature and how animals managed to be the dominating majority everywhere in the world around them.

It started as a lowly growl – a simple, terrifying noise that Ellie had been trained to be terrified of. It was almost instinctual how her body initially reacted to the sounds of the wild outside, the way the rumbling signified danger and hunger from a nearby animal.

Slowly, she advanced toward it, overcoming the racing of her heart and moving large, fallen branches aside until, finally, the source of the rumbling noise had come from.

Gray fur stuck in the branches, the small body wrapped up in the wood and the snow, eyes big and piercing, scared for its life. Its ears were thrown back and when Ellie came into view, threatening growls transcended into silence, a whimpering of terror and fear following among the silence.

Ellie watched in vast wonder at the switch of the creature’s attitude, how strong and menacing it pretended to be, but when approached by something bigger or scarier than it, how frail and scared it became with no escape and nowhere to look but right at her. How big it pretended to be until she stepped into view.

It was small – smaller than usual – and abandoned in the cold, with no family, mother, father, or friend in sight. Ellie, in her right mind, knew there was only one thing to do. She pulled the rope from the side of her backpack, and slowly started forward with the lead in her hands.

***

A long shift at the medical clinic was always tiring enough for Dina. Sometimes, she even preferred staying on patrol with her girlfriend and her friends – it was a lot more entertaining, despite the work. But at the clinic, there was nothing but injury everywhere, with always something to do, always somewhere to rush off to.

Their little house on the corner of Jackson sat vacant, dark and cold looking from the outside, but it always gave Dina that spike of warmth and familiarity any time it came into view after a long day.

Hurriedly, with a wide anticipation to lay back and relax in her home, she made her way up the small stairs and to the door. When she opened it up, she was hit with the deep silence of vacancy from within the house. Stepping in, she saw all of the lights off from up the stairs just in front of her. All the lights on the first floor, in the living room straight ahead, and the kitchen and dining room off past it, they were all out.

Passing by the living room and the sliding glass door, she made her way into the kitchen with bewilderment. Ellie’s patrol ended hours ago, and yet, no sign of her – only her backpack that was carefully tucked away under the coat rack bench beside the door. On the fridge, a yellow sticky note was pasted, thick with letters.

_D, Ran to the market. I’ll be back soon. Love you! Ellie._

Relief swept over her as Ellie’s location became known. All of the possible dangerous scenarios of her not coming back had played on her mind for a while before she’d found her note. As she let the comfort of her home slip over her, she turned the lights on to the kitchen and found herself rummaging the fridge in search of something to make, something to surprise Ellie with when she came home.

When she pulled open the cabinet, she was met with two packaged deer sausages that Dina had went to get at the market only a few nights prior. Dina remembered the nights that she cooked up some hot, juicy venison sausages on the grill on a cold winter night like that one, and suddenly, her mind was hooked on the idea. She gathered up some other seasonings from the cabinet and collected it all on a cutting board. The market was plentiful with foods and seasonings, brought back by patrols and hunting parties. Dina couldn’t have asked for a better way to contribute to their settlement, yet get back so much.

Ellie loved to spend her time where the food was, she knew that much. But the fact that Ellie was even going to the market pondered her – she didn’t think too much into it. She usually let Ellie do her thing. There was probably a reason for her trip and Dina just left it at that.

Slipping her arms through her coat, she excitedly made her way outside, sliding open the glass to the roofed patio they had with their grill and table.

The scream could be heard across Jackson when Dina saw it – a creature of great danger, a predator that she was bred to run from – huddled in the corner near the post keeping the roof on the patio.

She had to catch the cutting board that nearly fell at her terror, the creature immediately backing away in fear, but Dina could barely register that before she was running back inside to grab for the phone.

***

Getting back home was a rush – hopefully Dina hadn’t managed to stumble her way into the backyard before she got home in time to explain, but then again, Dina always found herself in the wrong time and place all the time.

After gathering all of the meat to feed him and ropes she needed to help construct a place for him to stay, she hurried home with the bags over her shoulders. She planned on making a quick dump of the bags into the backyard without being spotted by her girlfriend.

She didn’t really even know how she was going to break the news. Ellie couldn’t help her impulsivity sometimes. She couldn’t help herself when she saw the young gray wolf stuck in the branches, injured and alone. Her fourteen-year-old-self broke through the seams of her mature, stoic young adult self, and she couldn’t help the feeling of sympathy she felt for the helpless thing in stuck in the forest.

She could only hope that Dina would understand the same way she did.

Finally, she reached the house and made her way between their house and their neighbor’s, being cautious and watchful as she quietly hopped the wooden fence after tying the bags around her shoulders in a fashioned backpack to keep it on her as she pulled herself above the fence. She landed yards away from the wolf who watched her with surprise, confusion, and vigilance.

Taking a scrap of meat from the bag, she held it out to him and began to step closer, slowly, but surely getting there. As she approached, the scent of the venison steak crossed his nose and he rose to his feet in anticipation, a hungry look traveling across his face.

Ellie debated in her mind whether it was best or not to touch him when she got close enough – though, she didn’t know if he would even let her. The young wolf was small in size and naïve in nature, so she guessed that he might’ve let her. It was no more than a year old, she guessed.

When she was close enough to smell his battered fur, she placed the steak down right in front of him, and watched him hungrily devour it. He was so invested in eating the meat that he must not have cared when Ellie’s hand softly brushed against a silky ear.

Still, she prayed Dina had not made it home. Upon quietly sliding the door open, there was a rush of footsteps from the kitchen. The lights were off but she could make out the familiar shape of a tall man peeking his head around the corner to see just what it was that had entered the house.

_“Ellie fucking Williams, what the fuck is that tied up in our backyard?!”_

The light flicked on to reveal Joel’s wide-eyed, woeful expression, almost as if he were wishing her ‘good luck’ with his eyes before he turned away and had Dina stomping around him to confront the girl in the doorway. She was frazzled and panicked, and Joel could only watch from the back as she unleashed her wrath on Ellie. Her frightened eyes demanded answers.

“It’s a baby wolf,” Ellie explained, trying to sound as calm as possible but intimidated under her girlfriend’s furious, frantic glare. “I found him out on patrol.”

“How the fuck did it get in here?” She demanded, stepping closer to the taller girl in blind rage.

“Wait, what?” Ellie’s eyes widened and she glanced around the house with an anxious gaze. “He got in the _house?”_

“No, you fucking idiot!” Dina shoved Ellie by the shoulders, backing her closer to the glass. “How did you even get it into Jackson?”

“That ain’t what matters,” Joel stepped in to bring Dina back with a soft hand to the shoulder, turning to Ellie with that same lecturing, fatherly glare she remembered from all those years ago. “Ellie, what were you thinkin’ bringing that damn thing around here? You know how dangerous that is? He coulda bit your god damn head off. Or worse, had he gotten in here, I reckon he woulda made a snack out of Dina here, too.” He motioned to her with an aggravated arm. “I’d really like to know what you were thinkin’, kid.” His voice was demanding and firm.

“Why are you even here?” Ellie shot back, defensively, unprepared to have been double-teamed by both her girlfriend and her father.

“I called him,” Dina groused, expression still sour. “I called him here because you were out and I thought that thing had broken in here. It scared the fucking shit out of me!”

Ellie sighed and looked down in defeat and frustration. “I’m sorry, okay? I just… I saw it out there, and it was alone, and it was scared. I lured it in here with meat and I brought him back here so that he would be safe.”

Dina sighed in return, her anger coming down from its high. “Ellie, you’re sweet, okay? You have the biggest heart I’ve ever met and that makes you admirable, it makes you loving, but it also makes you stupid,” Ellie winced in offense. “It was dumb to bring that thing in here. You don’t know what it could do. What if it turns on us one day?”

Joel jumped in with agreement. “It was impulsive, Ellie, it wasn’t smart. I get it that you wanted to help it, but Jesus, kid, next time think a little. It coulda hurt you when you were dragging it in here, or it coulda hurt Dina when she came home. You gotta think sometimes.”

Looking away with defeat, she hung her arms and pursed her lips. “You’re right.”

Arms encircled her waist and the overwhelming smell of her girlfriend filled her senses, putting her ashamed mind at ease and calming the blood in her face. The sweet hug swelled in her chest, and she found herself softly hugging back.

“You’re so damn stupid,” Dina laughed, just above a whisper. Pulling back to press a kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek, she took a good look at her. “Is it fed?”

“Yeah, he’s fed,” Ellie mumbled back with a lost look on her face. “I just threw him a steak when I got back.”

Dina’s eyes were full of understanding and compassion as her anger entirely subsided and her voice was low with gentleness. Her arms were wrapped tight around her neck as they continued to talk face-to-face, Ellie’s still placed around her waist.

“Is that what you went out for?” Joel’s low, calm voice asked then, interrupting sweetly. “To get him food?”

Ellie nodded solemnly while Dina pulled in again to rest her head on her shoulder and continue to hug her. Ellie guessed that she’d been terribly scared and she almost thought the hug was more for Dina than it was for Ellie. But then she also figured it was from the way she yelled at her and how she felt bad. Or, perhaps, it was both.

“Did it trust you?” Joel asked.

“Yeah,” Ellie answered quietly. “He let me feed him. I threw the steak in front of him and I pet his ears. He’s fine.”

“Well,” Joel sighed, rubbing the back of his head in thought. “The only saving grace is that the thing is very young. You can teach it to be friendly and trustworthy. He don’t seem too aggressive.”

“Yeah,” Dina agreed, pulling her head away again. “When I went out there, it just looked at me and then got scared when I screamed.”

Ellie scoffed with amusement, picturing Dina’s fright at the baby wolf tied to the backyard.

“I got supplies from the market,” she stated as she was reminded of the bags of rope and meat she left out in the back. “I know we’ve got that massive pile of wood by the shed. I figured we could fix something up for him? Maybe a little shelter from the cold?”

“Back at my place, I got a lotta stuff we can use, too,” Joel’s offer warmed her heart. “I can come by and I can help you get something set up, if you want.”

Ellie didn’t fight the smile. “That’d be great, actually.”

***

Roger’s little doghouse went up in a matter of days. When Ellie or Dina had work, they tried their best to take turns helping Joel, who was out there each day with his hammer and nails, fixing the wood and configuring the rope to get it all set up.

During the process, Roger was able to adjust to the idea of humans coming in and out of the yard. Dina slowly began to open up to the small wolf, as did Joel, and eventually Roger would carefully hang around them whenever they were out working.

It took weeks for him to get used to Ellie and Dina trying to touch him – he stayed vigilant for quite some time before, finally, he let them occasionally pet his ears or his head. As long as he could see where their hands were, he was okay.

He didn’t grow very much – it was clear as day that he was definitely a runt, and he was most certainly abandoned by his family, most likely for that purpose. He grew to be half the size of a regular wolf, definitely much weaker and much more fragile. Once Ellie and Dina realized that he was tame enough to handle being around them, they started leaving their sliding door open in the spring.

Days passed that Roger didn’t dare venture into the place where the humans roamed. He didn’t dare cross that boundary. But after a few days, he loosened up.

The day that he slowly took paw steps in, Dina and Ellie had been cuddled up on the couch watching the TV, when they whipped their heads around simultaneously at the sound of nails tapping against the hardwood floor. It startled Roger for a moment, but they gasped in wonder as he had brought more than half his body into their house.

When Ellie called out for him, he suddenly seemed to ease up and he came into the home without as much anxiety.

Weeks turned into months and finally, Roger had made himself far more comfortable. He would stay in more than he would out, Dina and Ellie having fixed him a bed beside the tv made of large blankets and pillows. He was eating meat out of a big plate they had reserved just for him, and the doghouse sat quietly and comfortably out in the yard, which ended up being almost even too big for him, if not the perfect size.

Word got around pretty quickly, both in a negative and a positive way. Many were welcoming and excited to meet the new addition to Ellie and Dina’s household – most of their friends made it a point to visit him nearly every day to spend time with him and help him get accustomed to more people. They’d take him out to their big fenced-in yard and run around with him for some time. Others were skeptical about having a gray wolf present around Jackson, God forbid he broke out and went rabid on someone. Even Tommy was questionable for a moment, before some lecturing from Joel and Maria got into his head.

Roger quickly became more like a dog every day – Ellie and Dina had successfully been able to train him to understand a better side to his beautiful nature. It was a process, but before they knew it, he was friendly and excitable and he was more than happy spending time with them. His injuries from the branches were minuscule, and he was able to recover and stay injury-free and healthy for the entire time he was there.

Ellie couldn’t have asked for anything better than that. It seemed as if Ellie started to love “the runt” more than she loved Dina, as Dina playfully put it. Ellie assured her that wasn’t the case, but she knew that she was more than grateful for Roger’s entrance in their life.

Looking after him was a challenge for both her and her girlfriend, but she was thankful nonetheless. Roger was a blissful challenge that she was more than happy to take on with Dina.

Out in the wild, he might’ve died, he was abandoned and had no other wolf to help him through his growth. But instead, he found Ellie and Dina, and he found Joel, and Tommy and Maria, and all their friends, and many young kids that came to pet him and play with him and Ellie would sit in amusement and always think to herself: Roger wasn’t all that bad for a runt.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> This is another of the Tumblr requests I received for these two.
> 
> My tumblr handle is @lmontyy, and I take any and all requests, (so long as they're not unreasonable or crazy!) but I'm very easygoing when it comes to writing, and do enjoy writing for others. Any and all questions or inquiries may be directed to my inbox here or on tumblr. :)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
